Job openings in America are at a record high

Job openings in the US rose to the highest on record in April, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Openings totaled 6.04 million, according to the monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey released on Tuesday. A record number of vacancies was posted in the accommodation and food services industries. Openings in durable-goods manufacturing fell by 30,000.

The high number of openings underscores the challenges that some employers have filling positions, eight years after the recession, especially for jobs that are require specialized skills. The number of hires fell by 253,000 to 5.05 million, the lowest since April 2016.

Economists had forecast that job openings in the US totaled 5.75 million in April, improved from an upwardly revised 5.785 million in March, according to Bloomberg.

The JOLTS report also included the quits rate, which was unchanged at 2.1%. Quits rose to a postrecession high of 2.2% in January. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen has said this rate, which gauges quits as a share of total employment, signifies how confident people are in being able to find a new job if they resign, making it a good bellwether of overall labor-market conditions.